I am an evil giraffe. But I'm trying, Nick. I'm trying REAL HARD to be the wizard.

I don’t give much of a tinker’s dam about the Washington Redskins name – although I think that the unconscious patronizating done by the ACLU author here is remarkable in its utter lack of self-awareness, and remarkably privileged – but the important thing is that the right answer is gotten to. The right answer, in this case, being ‘keep the government out of this one.’

The Washington Redskins is a name that is offensive and perpetuates racism against Native Americans. Should it be changed? Yes. But should the government get to make that call? As we told a federal district court yesterday, the answer is no, because the First Amendment protects against government interference in private speech.

Let us address the central paradox of the Hillary Clinton campaign. To do that, though, we must first refresh our memories. Specifically, this ad:

Remember it? It is, of course, an edited version of the iconic Apple 1984 ad which was altered to convert it from revolutionary agitprop praising a multinational corporation to revolutionary agitprop praising an undistinguished machine politician from Chicago. And, to be fair, it was successful agitprop. We will be arguing for decades about just how Hillary Clinton managed to lose that primary fight, but she did – and videos like this probably didn’t hurt. (more…)

Short version: two-fisted hero type goes to alien planet, has Golden Age pulp science fiction adventures. Does it all. Goes back home, nobody believes him, gets used to that. Forty years pass. Then they need him again…

Ate it in one gulp: Mark Millar wrote a nice thing here that played it exquisitely straight. Glad to have it in my library: and if the cover below appeals to you, you probably will too. Check it out.

Sure, sure, Superego (science fiction, hit man, interstellar politics) was written by Frank J Fleming of IMAO fame; and sure, he also wrote Punch Your Inner Hippie: Cut Your Hair, Get a Job, and Make America Awesome Again, which I interviewed Frank on and everything. But I liked Superego on its own merits. It’s a bit of a challenge to try to make a sociopath a sympathetic, let alone heroic, character without appealing to the reader’s dark side; and I think Frank pulled it off. Plus, it was funny and had a decent, fast-moving plot. I’d read more in the series, if Frank was planning to write them. Check it out.

…but I am too busy being entertained at the charming naivete of ‘Hawaiian independence advocates.’ They are apparently all blissfully unaware that the only reason that they are not instead ‘seditious secessionists’ and currently spending long prison terms on the mainland is because the US government has rightfully calculated that arresting and convicting them for that isn’t worth the PR hassle. Or even really justifiable; based on what I saw in Hawaii, the Hawaiian independence movement mostly exists to man extraordinarily truculent and aggrieved roadside stands for haole tourists.

You may safely assume that we will not be giving up Pearl any time soon, in other words. Also: we will give Taiwan what we will give Taiwan, Chinese inferiority complex over their amour propre nonwithstanding.

Moe Lane

PS: Yes, yes, I’m sure that Barack Obama cannot wait to give back Hawaii to the secessionists, not to mention destroy our ability to project power in the Pacific. Just as soon as he gets his marching orders from the People’s Republic of Luna Soviet-in-Exile and finalizes a deal with the Hollow Earth, no doubt. Seriously, guys: nobody in the Democratic party wants Barack Obama to be the last Democratic President, which is precisely what would happen if we gave up Pearl. It’s fun to ascribe horrible motivations to this President, not least because he seems determined to live down to them; but there are limits.

It’s perfectly designed for its target audience: David assumes that you know the story of the de Blasio Groundhog Murder (and Coverup) already, and that you know about Mike Bloomberg’s insane mayor-clown anti-gun posse – which means he can go with the joke without having to explain anything. I mean, sure, if you’re a first-time Twitter user who doesn’t follow politics you won’t get the jok… no, wait, there’s a picture of a groundhog about to savage a man’s ear. You’d still get the joke anyway.

As I said: I am impressed in a professional capacity with this tweet. It’s just that good.